Crossing Over
by starflight101
Summary: The Firefly crew cross over into the word of the Federation. Here they meet the Next Generation crew who try to help them get back to the dimension they came from.
1. Chapter 1

**A Firefly and Star Trek Next Generation Crossover**

_Haven't seen any of these stories as of yet. Couldn't resist doing one. Sorry. I don't know any Mandarin words. Just imagine they are saying them anyway!!_

"River?" Simon's voice seeped into her thoughts as she felt sleep melt away from her mind. She snapped her eyes open, startling her brother before he left, letting her get dressed. She pulled on a somewhat tattered blue dress and her black combat boots. She knew the Captain commentated on them jokingly with other crew members but no one else really had the guts to say anything much to her. They were afraid of her. In point of fact. But she wasn't going to let all of that worry her today. Today there would be visitors, though no one knew it yet.

"Captain Picard?" Called the shaky voice of an Ensign as Picard took in the sensor readings from the pad. They had come across an unusual anomaly that looked ready to cause problems to an empty section in space. Besides the few stray plants there wasn't much to see in this system.

"Yes Ensign?" He answered swiftly.

"I've rechecked the readings and the…. Uhhh… It's growing bigger." He stammered to find the words to call the deformed type wormhole opening its vast and disturbing mouth to them.

"Mr. Data," Data turned in his chair. "What have you found so far?"

"It is growing Sir. It appears to be consuming the light around it, similar to that of a black hole and yet it also has those characteristics of a white hole where I am getting readings of it dispersing particle matter." He twitched his head in his usual pattern and went back to his readings.

"Captain" Mr. Worf started behind them from the tactical station. "I am picking up a ship, unknown origin. It appears to be coming from the wormhole. I am detecting nine life forms."

Everyone watched eyes transfixed to the screen as a small bulky ship emerged from the spiraling mess that was the wormhole.

"Their life support is failing sir." Data stated calmly, his hands moving rapidly over his station.

"Transport them aboard immediately. Tell the Doctor to prepare for casualties."

"Aye sir"

"They were human bio signs Captain, but I have never seen a ship of that design before." Worf said as all eyes drifted back to the view screen.

"Nor have I. Data what do you think?" Picard asked the android.

"There is no know ships layout in our database Captain. Though it may have been constructed by the crew. It does not have shields, or a warp core. Nor does it appear to have any weapons. It has been very poorly constructed, though by the amount of hull integrity, I would surmise that it has been in space for no less then 2.7 years." Data summed up.

"How the hell did they get that thing flying? Let alone able to stay in space for that long?" Riker questioned, without expecting a response though Data was ready to give one.

"I am unable to detect the origin of the wormhole, though from recent events, it may be linked into a different quantum variable."

"You mean another universe." Riker asked, making sure he understood the conversation.

"Yes Sir" Data answered.

"Another universe?" Picard pondered in aware. "Riker, Data, Worf come with me."

"Captain?" Riker inquired.

"We're going to check on our guests."


	2. Chapter 2

As they strode into Sickbay, they caught sight of something unexpected. A tall, brown haired man was holding what looked to be an old fashioned pistol. Most likely loaded with real led or steel bullets.

"Captain!" Doctor Crusher sighed in relief, lowering her hands as everyone turned in their direction. Worf already had his fazer raised and pointed at the man who had changed from pointing the gun at the Doctor to pointing it at Worf. One of the group yelled, a short brown haired female, who backed away from the security officer.

"Please, lower your weapons. We mean you no harm. We transported you aboard when our ships seasons alerted us that your life support system failed." Picard explained.

"Are you the Captain?" The man, who was obviously the Captain from his ship, asked.

"Yes. I'm Captain Picard of the Star Ship Enterprise." Picard answered.

"Captain Malcolm Reynolds." He didn't lower his weapon.

"Mr. Worf." The captain motioned him to lower his weapon, Mal followed suit.

"So, you mind telling me how you whisked us away from our humble abode." Mal asked in a strong southern accent.

"We used the transporter." Riker answered not giving any more information then needed. They obviously didn't have this kind of technology yet. How they got into space, looking at their getup, was a complete mystery to him.

"Voices. So many. Below and above." Came a small, mystic voice. Riker turned his attention to who looked to be the youngest of the crew. A little girl who didn't look over 16. She had lain on the ground, her ear pressed to the floor as if she could hear the many voices on the lower decks. A young looking, well kept man knelt down beside her.

"River?" He asked, with concern only a sibling could understand.

"I can hear them. So happy. Peaceful. They can't see the other side." River muttered to the room.

Riker threw them a strange look. _What is she talking about? _He though to himself. The Doctor edged over, a medical tricorder in her hands. Who she assumed was the girls brother, looked up at her, giving her a curious look.

"It's alright." Crusher soothed. "I just want to see if she's okay. This will let me see." She motioned to her tricorder.

"She's a perfect picture of health, sides being crazy an all." Came the gruff voice of a not too pleasant looking man. He had a large gun strapped to his shoulder.

Picard drew their attention to the matter at hand and introduced the people in the room from Enterprise. Mal did the same, leaving out the fact that both River and Simon Tam were wanted criminals, though no one seemed to know that anyway.

"Captain, I'd like to complete a full physical on each of them. To be on the safe side." Doctor Crusher quietly asked Picard who nodded curtly. "From the simple scans I've taken so far from a few of there crew, I'm surprised some of them are still on there feet."

"Me and mine don't take too kindly to being whispered bout." Mal jumped into the conversation, moving closer so he could catch what they were saying.

"The Doctor would like to take a look at all of you, just to make sure there are no viruses or pathogenic bacteria being brought aboard the ship." Picard answered, getting unwelcoming looks from everyone.

"We have our own Doc, and he's done a fine job of us. There's no need." Mal stated, leaving the lines hanging so that there was no way around his decision. Picard thought otherwise.

"It is as much for your protection as it is for ours. It won't take long." Picard insisted.

Knowing the signs of a head strong leader, Mal knew this was probably one of those rare fights that he couldn't win. Also the fact that this wasn't his ship and there was one big, scary looking guy standing by Picard who didn't look like he'd have much trouble taking him out, and seeing as he had recently been wounded already, it wouldn't be a good thing to be tackled to the ground.

The Doctor motioned for Mal to be seated on the biobed behind him as Picard left with Data in tow. Riker and Worf were staying behind to make sure there were no accidents or arguments. Worf motioned for them to give up their weapons. Though this did not go down well with the crew they agreed to compromise. The Captain and Jayne were aloud side arms only if they were discreet. Of course Riker didn't tell them that the ship had its protocols. Any such weapon fired anywhere inside the ship would have a force instantly placed around it.

As Doctor Crusher took scans, gasping a few times at past wounds that had not properly healed, Riker turned his attention onto the strange, thin, frail looking girl named River. She was muttering quietly to herself, her eyes floating across the room. When they got to him, she stopped. He could almost feel her looking through his mind, and he shivered at her steady, strong gaze. There was something not quiet right about her.

"What do you mean, _'It happens all the time?'_" The Doctors shrill voice range through the room.

"I don't ask to be shot. People just like shooting me." Came Mal's answer.

"Makes me think why" Beverly muttered. Lifting up the other Captain's shirt she ran along a tissue regenerator that helped closed up the wound leaving a small scar.

She moved her tricorder to River who looked at it with interest but didn't seem to mind, thought Simon was edging around her to see the readings as well. There was a silent 'My God' and Beverly moved over to the computer with a confused look plastered on her face.

"River, could you come over here?" She asked as River tilted her head and complied. Grabbing another instrument Beverly began another screening, bringing up an image onto the data screen on the wall.

"What is it?" Riker asked with curiosity.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like this before." She answered in a small voice.

"You need to understand, I didn't know what they were doing to her. I only just found out recently myself." Simon stepped up.

"Seems to be a lot' a small chatter I can't hear. Anything interesting Doc." Mal pushed his way over. Simon was peering at the screen trying to make everything out, but it was difficult. There on the data screen was a picture of his sisters hacked at brain. The tissue scarring showing clearly as well as what he had seen earlier in his own images he had taken at Ariel.

"Who the hell did this?" Beverly shouted

"Did what?" Riker answered, not understanding the screen all that well.

"That." Beverly pointed as the screen enlarged and the image rotated showing them the missing segment of River's brain.

"The Academy. They did this to her. They were supposed to be helping her, teaching her, but this is what they were doing instead. Cutting up a perfectly healthy brain. I still don't know the full damage they did." They could hear the emotion coming from his voice. It was a difficult subject for him to talk about most of the time. It just wasn't fair. He hadn't been quick enough to save her, even though they had both escaped, she was still a prisoner in her own mind.

"Academy? What kind of academy cuts up brains as part of the learning programme?" Riker rhetorically asked.

"The Alliance." Mal answered for him anyway. "Who else?"

"Alliance? Who's alliance?"

Mal looked at him strangely, "Our alliance."

"I think what the Commander is asking is what race? We have come across a few who have specialized in this kind of field, but nothing to this extent." Beverly jumped in.

"Race? What the hell are you talking about. The only race out here. Us. Humans. That is who we are, isn't it?" Mal shot at them, feed up at their glances they slipped to one another.

There was a long silent pause before Riker talked again. "There are over 20,000 different cataloged species in the sections of space alone that we have explored." This caused different reactions from the varies Serenity crew members, thought the most used one was "WHAT?!"

"What the gorram hell are you folk talking bout?" Jayne was the first to ask. "There ain't no such thing as aliens. Spose maybe Reavers kinda fit that description though." He added as an after thought.

"Commander, if I may have a word with you in private?" Crusher motioned with her hand her towards her office. He nodded curtly and left the room, making sure they could not hear them.

"What is it?" He asked, straight to the point.

"The Captain said they came through some kind of wormhole? What if where they came from, didn't have any other species but there own?" Crusher asked Riker, wondering if her theory made any sense at all.

"Another dimension?" He pondered. "That would answer a lot of questions. The design of the ship, their weapons, no other alien species."

"Their speech even sounds different. I heard a few of them cursing before in Mandarin." Crusher added. "What are we going to do with them? I don't think the prime directive takes effect. They seem to have similar technology if somewhat primitive. Added to the fact that as far as I can tell, they're all human." The Doctor walked back and forth, passing by the window. They didn't see the Serenity crew having a conversation of their own.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright, anyone who has even the faintest idea of what the hell is going on, care to speak up?" Mal quipped, looking at each of them in tern.

"New faces. New world. Can't turn your head, can't look down. Can't back away now." It was River who spoke up after a few minutes silence.

"I ain't have time for riddles darlin." Mal turned to her as her eyes floated around the room.

"Riddles, no riddles. Just talk. But no one will listen." She cried in frustration.

"River, it's ok." Simon soothed.

"No. It's not. No one listens when I talk." She shouted.

"We are listening darlin. It's just hard to figure out what exactly you're trying to say. You don't exactly say it straight." Mal explained.

"They'll try and send us back." River looked at him. "Back to where we were. We're not there anymore. There's just nothing."

"So….. We're somewhere we weren't before." Wash finally spoke, repeating in clarity what River was saying. "That's helpful. I still don't see how that helps us though. Are you seeing how this helps us?" He turned to his wife who had been standing with her arms crossed over her chest the whole time.

"I think what she's trying to say, and don't think me crazy for saying this but, we aren't in OUR space. What we consider our space sir." Zoë tried.

"That ain't making a whole lota sense." Mal shook his head, not seeing what she saw. She smiled lightly and fell silent with the rest of them. At that moment, Riker and Crusher appeared from their private conversation. There were looks of deep thought on their faces as the Doctor continued scanning the crew with Riker observing.

When everyone had completed a simple physical, Riker decided it was best to take them to tend-ford. This would help them relax a little and get a chance to talk to some of the crew and perhaps if they were willing, someone who wasn't human. He shook his head, he couldn't believe no of them had seen something other then another human being before. He had already contacted Deanna and asked her to come down and see if she felt any hostility in them, for ships safety of course. He couldn't help but think it was also for his own curiosity as well. The last time they had had an encounter with people from another dimension, they had been almost replicas of the crew, but altered in some point of their life. To see into another dimension that was completely different, he knew it would be difficult, if not impossible to get them back but judging from the brief descriptions the Serenity crew had given them, he didn't think they'd be entirely worried about that.

"So what's this place called again?" Mal asked, striding down the corridors beside him.

"Ten-ford. It's were most go to have some social time." He answered absently mindedly. The doors to Ten-ford swished open and they opened their eyes in wonder at the large room, big square windows lined the left side of the room that opened to the vastness of space that surrounded them. River was the first one to move and she moved in the direction of the windows, her eyes caught in the darkness and twinkling stars. A teenager, no more then 18 made his way over. He wasn't dressed in the uniforms that the rest of the crew was dressed in. He wore a grey type piece, making his shoulders look broad and he plastered a true smile on his lips, not like the rest of the people they had meet.

When he got to River, he stuck out his hand. "Hi there, my name is Wesley Crusher." River looked down at his hand in wonder, as if she didn't understand its purpose before smiling slightly and taking it in her own. This was the first person she had ever greeted in this way. For some reason she felt compelled to shake his hand and get to know him, there was something about him, something that only a few people knew. He was special.

"What's your name?" He asked politely.

"River." She answered softly, her eyes drawing back to the view of the stars. Her hand slipped from his and she moved slowly and gracefully to the window. "Long and cold. Never ending. Don't get lost, you'll never come home." She whispered, just loud enough for Wesley to hear. He scrunched up his nose, trying to understand what she was taking about.

Riker walked up to the bar, greeting the bar tender who was a dark women with long black braded hair. "This is the Serenity crew." He waved his hand over them and began a conversation they couldn't hear.

Meanwhile Wesley had followed River to her view sight and tried to start another conversation. "So what do you do on your ship? I'm a pilot mainly and I help out with the engines, but I'm still in school so usually I don't get mush free time." He waited for her to answer but she said nothing. "River?"

"She doesn't usually talk to anybody she doesn't know. Let alone shake their hand. And most of the time, what she does say, don't make a whole lota sense." Kaylee came up behind them.

"Why?" He looked at her in confusion.

"Her brain got cut up." She said in a sigh. "Mostly she just speaks in riddles. Ohhh, there was that one time she went after Jayne with a knife. He had to get stitches. Course, that was before Ariel. She's getting better though." Kaylee nodded, smiling at River before heading off with Mal and the others who were getting a drink. Simon came over to them and tugged at River's arm. "Come on _Mei Mei, _let's go and get something to drink. What do you want?" He pulled her away leaving a speechless Wesley behind. He didn't know if what Kaylee had said was true, but it was a frightening thought altogether.

Simon, River and Shepherd sat at one table, close to the window while beside them sat the others, talking in quiet whispers. Obviously, they didn't trust anyone who may have been listening in on their conversation. Riker was still at the bar but he had been joined by a few others. A pale, stiff looking man in a yellow uniform was standing to Riker's left, a lovely dark haired woman stood to his right (she seemed to have no real uniform order) and a tall, very dark man with deep ridges on his forehead and a yellow uniform, as well as some kind a sash draped over his shoulder stood beside the women.

"What is that thing?" Shepherd's low voice asked as he pointed to the ridge man. "One of these aliens they've been talking about?" He directed the question at the Doctor.

"I'm not sure." He answered, trying to get a better look at him, his curiosity getting the better of him. The women took that moment to look over at them. She smiled, said something to the group and headed their way. Simon ducked back down making the others look over. The women smiled warmly at them before asking them if she could take a seat. Both Shepherd and Simon nodded.

"I'm Deanna. Pleased to meet you." She shot her hand out to Simon who was the closest. He shook her hand politely and introduced them all.

"Who is that?" Shepherd asked, nodding to ridge man who was now sitting beside Riker, drinking something murky yellow.

Deanna smiled knowingly and explained, "That's Lieutenant Worf. His Species is Klingon. He's the only one you'll find on this ship, or any other Federation Starship of his spices. They are a warrior race. Very proud people, but once you get to know him, he can be very surprising."

"Never knew his parents. His true ones. Grew up with humans. That's why he's here." River's eyes were trained on him as she spoke. Deanna looked at her in shook and surprise.

"How do you know that?" She asked trying to let her empathic abilities read the frail looking girl in front of her.

"River…. She….. Has a great perception on things. People." Simon tried.

"That was not a perception." Deanna shot down, continuing to star at her. It was strange. She felt nothing from her, and everything. A jumble of emotions, that did more then make her head spin. She felt dizzy and pulled herself away with effort. She had never felt anything like that before in anyone. And River was Human. She would ask Beverly. Perhaps she would know something. She said a quick goodbye before leaving the table and making her way to Sickbay where she knew the Doctor would be, looking over the results of her latest tests of the Serenity crew.

_Thank you so much for the review. It's always good to know when people read and like my stories, it's a good motivator!! Hope you like this Chapter._


	4. Chapter 4

"………and no one even knew Worf even on board the ship until they saw him and I introduced him." Deanna had made her way to Sickbay and was currently telling Beverly what had happened in Ten-ford. "It's strange. When I tried to read her, I felt sick, like there was so much going through her mind I felt my head would explode. I've never felt that before Beverly. She couldn't have know that."

"Maybe what Simon said was true. Perhaps she does have a good perception of people. I honestly don't know, but what I do know is that the brain scans I took from her, they're like nothing I've ever seen before. Someone has actually removed her amygdala. It controls autonomic responses associated with fear, hormonal secretions and emotional responses." Beverly was clearly upset, waving her hands around, her eyes wide with shock and disgust. "I can't believe any human being would do anything like this, let alone on another wise perfectly healthy normal girl."

"Beverly, you must remember, they don't come from this dimension. I hate to think about it, but this may not be as outrageous in their society as it is in ours, although I can definitely sense a lot of anger coming from Simon." Deanna tried to reason.

"They're siblings. Brother and sister. I think that's why they seem very close, and Simon is always standing right beside her, making sure she's ok." Beverly thought. "He told me he was a doctor, back where he came from. He was one of the best, but he suspected something wasn't right with his sister several months after she left for the academy. He said that when he tried to contact her or get any information about her, he was thrown into jail!" Beverly stopped, letting the absurdity of the actions taken against Simon sink in. _How can anyone live in a world like that? _She thought.

At that moment, her son Wesley stepped through the swishing doors, a concentrating look transfixed to his face. He looked up to see his mother and Deanna. "Oh, hi mom. I just came to get some padds I left behind, homework." He nodded in the direction of her office and made his way over.

"Did you get the chance to talk to some of the Serenity crew?" Beverly inquired simply, hoping the question didn't sound like she was scoping for information.

"Yeah." He replied timidly. "I just thought Kaylee said something odd." He shrugged, his eyes roaming the room. He felt his mother's eyes on the back of his neck, as he tried to locate his padd, his escape route. Obviously she wanted to know something, and Wesley had the suspicion it had something to do with their dimension jumping guests.

"What did she say?" Deanna jumped in.

"Oh, something about River getting her brain cut up." Wesley turned around to face his mother's boring eyes. "But you know that already, don't you. That's way you took all those brain scans and told everyone they were standard." He raised his eyebrows. "She also said something about River attacking Jayne with a knife. She didn't say why though. Ahh!" Wesley, locating his padd under an assortment of his mother's work, grabbed it quickly, muttering a small good-bye to both Beverly and Deanna and left at neck breaking speeds.

"She attacked one of her own crew?" Deanna looked at Beverly for some kind of expiation.

Sighing, Beverly turned back to the medical schematics of River's brain. "I'm surprised she's still able to talk to tell you the truth."

"Ohhh, what does this do? Can I press it?" Kaylee squealed in delight as she moved through the middle of engineering to the weapons console.

"NO! Not that one. This console isn't to be touched unless given the order to do so." Geordie re-directed her hand away from the torpedo launch sequence.

"Why? What does it do?" Before Geordie could think up an answer, Kaylee had already moved off. Now she hovered over Data as he realigned their targeting sensors, a standard procedure, but an eye opener when one was watching Data do it. The main reason being that one could barely see his hands as they moved so fast. "Wow" She breathed. Data didn't seem to notice.

Their was the quiet sliding of the doors and in stepped Mal. Taking a quick look around he caught sight of Kaylee and headed over her way. "Kaylee, what you doing disturbing these people. They got work to do just like you. Ship's been docked for nearly an hour. You got some engines to get going." He ordered. Kaylee's face dropped at the prospect of being stuck on Serenity while everyone else was left to roam Enterprise.

"Hey, why don't I give you a hand?" Geordie offered. "It'll get done quicker and I'm free at the moment."

"Ohh, really? Shiny. Right this way." Kaylee grabbed his hand and pulled him off, her smile back on her face as she disappeared from Mal's line of view.

"Sir may I ask you something?" Data asked Mal, who jumped. He hadn't even seen him there.

"Sure, what's on your mind?" Data looked somewhat confused but realized it was just a figure of speech.

"I am unsure to the purpose of the amount of weapons you and your crew carry. I do not understand the need for handheld fire arms on a cargo hold. Would it not suffice to place weapons on the outside of the ship to ward away a possible ambush?" Data asked raising his eyebrows.

"Uhhh." Mal thought hard. How would he be able to explain to people who used small little pistols that didn't even fire bullets and came from the world of 'la-di-da'. _May as well just tell them straight. _He considered. Of course he'd leave out the fact that he stole the merchandise. He'd just say that a lot of people wanted that which he transported but it was just his job to deliver, and sometimes those he ran into, had more then just fists below their wrists. "It can get a little shifty. Get jumped by someone in the mood for lootin who has a lota fire power and we're screwed, to say the least." He finally answered.

"Screwed Sir?" Data inquired, but Mal never answered that one. There was something odd with this guy, if the pale completion and stiff demeanor didn't give it away. Of course, they had been informed that he was just a robot. A very smart robot, who wouldn't hurt anyone unless certain circumstances were in play.

Simon and River were sitting quietly the room River had been given to stay in while their own ship was being repaired. It was a lovely spacious room, twice the size of their dining room and kitchen together. Soft couches and arm chairs were places in front of the window with a double sized bed to the right and an on suite that was her own personal bathroom beyond that. While she had taken a seat and was currently staring out into the open space, Simon was trying to figure out how to use the replicator. They had been told and quickly shown how it worked although Simon had already forgotten the complicated setup.

"Damm it." He muttered when nothing happened. All he wanted was a simple glass of water. He would have just been contempt to grab it out of the sink, but he didn't have a glass, he'd have to replicate one, if he could ever work out how to.

"Here, you do it like this." River appeared beside him, making him jump. He hadn't heard her make a sound. She quickly entered in quick commands like she had done it a thousand times. Where there was nothing before, there was a shimmer of light and a clear glass of fresh water appeared. "Of course, you could have just told it what you wanted. It works under voice command as well." River explained, turning around to sit back on her seat. Simon let a rare smile cross his lips. It never ceased to amaze him how much Knowledge River could absorb. But he still felt something was not quiet right. It had been like she had known this would happen, she didn't seem surprised at anything they were told.

"That window looks like its not there." He said, trying to start up a conversation. River's gaze didn't move from the stars.

"Not a window." She replied.

"Oh?" Simon walked over to it and moved his hand to touch it. His hand didn't come into contact with glass; instead it came into contact with something that made the whole glass like structure shimmer a light blue colour before returning to normal. "What was that?" Simon jumped back.

"Force field. Glass is too weak. Can't hold us all in." River was looking far away, at something only she could see.

"Force field?" Simon asked but River didn't answer. She was in her own little world, inside her head that seemed too big and vast for her young frail frame. She could hear whispering. She always could, and sometimes she could understand what the whispers were saying, if she listened hard enough. She could hear some of what these were saying. They told her many things, they gave her answers to questions that filled the Sincerity crews head, but she said nothing. To say something would admit to the 'Seeker' what she could do, and then they would have her under microscopes too. 'Seeker was the name she had dubbed the elegant brown haired out, Deanna. She had tried too look into her head. Had felt her try to sift through emotions even she couldn't comprehend, but then she had left, pulled herself out before she got as lost as River was. No matter where River ended up, everyone she meet was just itching to look at her brain, and for similar reasons. Even she didn't know what abilities she possessed.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thanks for the great reviews. Am glad that you like them. __I know this is a short chapter but there is more coming soon. Thanks!!_

Mal had been scoping around Serenity since she had first been docked with Enterprise. Something didn't feel right being on Enterprise. He thought that perhaps it was the thought of all the different aliens. The one that made him feel most on his toes was the Kingon, Wrof. Something about him wasn't right. His ears perked at a sound behind him and his hand instantly went to the weapon on his hip. Whipping his head around, he saw no one. Deciding to take a quick look at the docking port, he made his was down to the cargo hold where he stepped onto Enterprise's unbelievably clean deck. That was another thing that cheeped him out, how clean the ship was with the amount of people aboard. He had been told there was more then a thousand crew and civilians. They sounded somewhat like the alliance ships and that made him think weather or not being here was a good thing or not.

Taking a step around the corner, he suddenly came face to face with a tall, dark monster towering over him. Acting on impulse, he yanked his weapon from its holster and took dead aim at the things chest. Before any word of protest could be heard, a shot echoed through the corridor and a flash of light shone in front of Mal's eyes as the 'zizz' of a force field erecting itself around the Captain. It was now that Mal saw who it was on the other end of the force field, Worf, the Security Officer.

"Why aren't you dead?" Was the first thing Mal thought of to say. He growled, curling his lips in anger at just being shot at before answering the question.

"No weapon such as that can be fired on this ship. We do not behave in such barbarity." He churned out, his own weapon raised.

"Wow now. You jumped me. Just a might surprised when you popped round the corner, you might say." Mal began to rant off, eyeing the weapon in Worf's hand. "Now lets talk bout this like civilized men. I ain't got no weapon that exactly works so why don't you go do me a favor and lower yours."

At that moment Riker emerged from another corner. Taking in the situation, he walked up to Worf, placing a hand of Worf's fazer and gently pushed it down. The Klingon was still growling but knew the silent order Riker had given him. Slapping the fazer back onto his waist he turned to Riker to explain.

They had been sitting quietly, Simon had been looking at some padds Doctor Crusher had given him on his sister and River, had been staring peacefully out into space. But that moment had quickly left as River, stiffly stood, her body rigid. "There here. There here. There here." She chanted over and over again, her voice become louder and louder until she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"River, what's wrong? Who's here?" Simon had tried but she was too frantic to listen to his soothing voice. Her head whipped around the room, looking for something big. Her eyes fell upon a light fashioned wooden chair tucked neatly under a small table. She gracefully pulled it out, holding it above her head and threw it at the door where it crumpled, chunks and sticks of wood flying in every direction. There was a calm that seemed to wash over her and she stood very still.

As the last of the debris fell, the doors swished open, emitting a furious looking Worf, a concerned looking Riker and the ever stiff and unemotional looking Data. River looked sharply at the Klingon, before lunging herself at him, knocking him to the floor. She distantly heard the frantic shouts of her brother trying to reason with her as she and Worf traded blow for blow. Leaping back in a summersault, River soured through the air, landing a spinning kick squarely at Worf's face followed by a duck and knocking the legs out from under him before he had the time to recover. It was then that Data was able to get behind her to restrain her the best the could, be grabbing her under the arms and locking him in his. She was screaming, flinging herself desperately trying to get free before Simon came up behind her, taking her arms and injecting a strong sedative into her blood stream. She went limp, now in a deep sleep.

Worf picked himself off the floor, wiping away blood now spurting from his obviously broken nose.

"Get yourself Sickbay." Riker said nodding to him and then to Data who was holding River. Simon stood behind them, a look of defeat on his face. He motioned to follow them but Riker held him back.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, anger rising in his voice.

"I don't know." He answered truthfully. "She was doing fine. She's just so unpredictable; I thought she was getting better."

"Getting better?" Riker inquired. He had the funny feeling he was referring to the brain scans Beverly had taken and tried to explain as best she could to the Captain and himself.

"You saw the scans. Not event the best Doctors in the Verse would have the skills to reverse what damage was done to her." Simon defended her.

Riker sighed, before nodding the OK for Simon to follow in pursuit of his sister and hopefully find out what had set her off.

"What?!" Inara's eyes opened wide with the clear look of shock written everywhere as she continued to maintain the composure she kept so well.

Inara had been getting to know some of the Enterprise crew. She was glad to meet some new people, even if she knew she would never see them again if they managed to get back home. In truth, she had no place in this world. They were almost perfect, but she could feel the funny looks most of the people gave her when they passed by the table she sat at in Ten-ford. It had quickly spread what her specific job was on board Serenity. Surprising, most had been disgusted; where's back in her space, she had been highly sought after, and honoured by those decent people she knew. But not here. Being a companion and being on Enterprise was like interacting with different people who had the same feelings Mal had about her, and that was frightening. Deanna had been the first to approach her since word had spread and had been genuinely interested in what she had to say. They had become quick friends. But that was not what she had on her mind at this particular moment. No. Word spread quickly on any ship, and word had spread to her about River. Taking out the giant of an alien in less then a minute was a record high apparently, and not good. She snapped up from her seat, Deanna behind her heels as they both made their way swiftly to Sickbay, where Inara knew by now the rest of the crew would be.


	6. Chapter 6

_Hope you like reading this as much as I liked writing it!!_

He paced back and forth, arms held stiffly behind his back. He needed answers and yet there seemed to be no logical ones around. Every time he tried to close his eyes for the smallest of rests, something huge happened. Picard had just settled into a good book, one he had been meaning to finish for some time now but had never had the time, when he had been informed by his second in command that the 17 year old girl, River, had broken Worf's nose, cracked two of his ribs and bruised his much of his face. He had simply stood, dumb folded at the turn of events.His book had been promptly discarded and forgotten as he had made his was swiftly to Sickbay where the Doctor was tending to Worf's injuries. River was on another bed, where Picard had been told her brother had sedated her with an old fashioned syringe he had had with him and his medical supplies after returning from Serenity. Doctor Crusher had demanded to see all his medical supplies as she believed he was dealing in medieval medicine, but Mal had quickly stepped in to defend his Doctor, saying it was none of her business what medicine they had, it kept them alive when one of them had a partially nasty wound.

He stopped his pacing as Beverly walked over to him, apparently finished with Worf who was now sitting on the biobed.

"He just needs to take it easy but other wise he's fine. I would recommend he spends the rest of the day resting." Beverly concluded.

Picard nodded before asking, "and the girl?"

Beverly looked in her direction as did Picard. Simon was sitting beside her, his eyes fixed again on the padd he had been reading since before this had happened.

"She's sleeping, and that man hasn't left her side since he came in."

Picard nodded, saying nothing. "Do we know why she attacked Worf?" He finally asked.

"He said she hasn't had an outburst like that for some time now. He doesn't know what triggered it off, he never does."

"I'll have two Security guards posted outside the entrance. I don't want something like this happening again." Picard said before leaving. Beverly made her way over to Simon. He looked up at her, reading her face.

"Your Captain's assigning guards, isn't he?" He asked angrily.

"Can you blame him? For what your sister was able to do, I honestly don't think they'll be able to handle her anyway, if she wakes up and decides she hasn't finished what she's started."

Simon said nothing to that, but instead thought back to the moment it had happened. She's said something was here. They? Who were They? Only River could answer that, and she was currently unavailable.

Mal, Kaylee, Wash, Zoë, Shepherd, Inara and Jayne were quietly sitting around the dining table in Serenity, their discussion, as expected, was trained on a certain brother and sister. Especially the sister. Mal had spent the last few hours explaining to Captain Picard why he had fired at his Security Officer. When he thought Picard understood, Mal then demanded to know why Picard hadn't told him about the force fields that came into play when a non-regulation weapon was fired. Picard had simply said it was for the crew's safety which had been demonstrated just a few hours ago.

Kaylee and Geordie had been trying to get the engine running again when Mal had burst into her engine room, giving a curt explanation to Geordie that he needed some privacy to talk to Kaylee. Geordie had left, saying he would return later if Kaylee needed extra hands. Mal couldn't help but notice Geordie seemed somewhat infatuated with Kaylee, not that he particularly cared.

Wash and Zoë had been walking, hand in hand around the Enterprise when they had heard of what had transpired. On their way to Sickbay, they had bumped into Inara who had remained silent except to ask what they knew, all the way.

It hadn't taken long for Mal to figure out where Jayne had gone. They had all been introduced to the holodeck. A wonderful room that could create anything they wanted. A bar type room, women dancing serving drinks to a beautiful lake area hidden behind blossoming trees. Jayne, until this moment, had spent his entire time there.

"Hey, I gots an idea, why don't we just steal one of them fancy do hickers they gots for their ship to kept it running, stick it to ours and get the hell outta here?" Jayne shrugged his shoulders, as if the plan was even worth thinking about. Mal stared at him, his face still and un-laughing.

"Do I look like one in the mood for one of your dumb ass plans to help us escape these nice happy travelers? Honestly, do I? Coz your about this far away," Mal held his fingers together so that they were almost touching, "from being thrown off this boat. Far as I'm concerned, you can stay here. Give them bastards the same headaches you give me." He snapped.

Jayne became silent, knowing his Captain's tone as one not to mess with. It was then that Kaylee, tied of being ignored, slapped her hands on the table to get their attention. Mal jumped in his chair, turning to look at who had made the noise.

"Hey, I've been with their engineer most of the day, and he said, that robot guy, might know how to send us back, in theory." She said timidly. "Said something bout making a star supernova coz some wormhole was unstable. Just needed to be reactivated." She finished nodding.

"That's great. So what the hell does that mean?" Mal asked, throwing his hands into the air.

"Best not think of it. Makes your head spin." Wash offered. "Oh, I know what we can do while we wait. We could replicate a whole heap of food for storage. We are running low you know." He turned to his wife, who smiled at his idea.

"Now that ain't half a bad thought." Jayne commented. "Just need to find someone who can work the bloody things properly."

"What do you mean you can't identify it?" The Romulan Captain of the T'mor, Kirvack, questioned his tactical officer.

"The ships design isn't in our database." He answered, scanning through various texts that might help them identify the ship that sat silently on the edge of their sensors.

"Then check again. Find out what species they are. I want to know who they are." He ordered. "I want to know who's in my space. They'll wish they never crossed into it." Sniggering, he swiftly left the bridge.

Dec'tor quickened his pace. He'd already displeased his Captain; he didn't wish to make the same mistake. A few of the settings to his left began sounding in alarm. The unknown ship was picking up speed, and heading straight for them. Alerting the Captain over the con, he armed the torpedoes.

"What is it?" Kirvack gruffly demanded, walking back onto the bridge he'd left only minutes ago.

"The unknown ship is picking up speed. They'll be within firing range in six minutes." He reported.

Kivack turned to the Communications officer. "Any response to hails?"

"None sir." He shook his head.

At that moment, a shock wave shook through the ship. Kirvack was thrown to the floor but quickly picked himself back up again, his face burning with anger.

"Fire at will." He hissed to Dec'tor, as he sat stiffly in his chair, leaning forward.

They let fire a volley of their own shots and watched in satisfaction as they hit their target.

"Sir, they appear to be picking up more speed. They're on a collision course!" Dec'tor's hands flew over his controls, trying to get the ship out of the way. But in truth, the black ship did not intend to smash into them, it intended to dock. And dock is what it managed to do, after more damage was taken. Kirvack, his face red with fury, sent 12 officers to the docking port. If anyone intended to board the ship, they would be killed before they knew what hit them.

Reaching the dock, they drew their weapons. Kirvack stood behind Dec'tor as the door creaked open. What they saw, they did not expect. A fury of people, looking somewhat like humans rushed them. Through some of them had weapons, most didn't use them. They bared their blackened teeth, their faces, scared and bleeding, and bit into their flesh. Kirvack stood frozen. Never before had he seen such insanity. And the last thing he knew, before he left this world, was the knife that sliced thought his throat and the stench of flesh and blood that became imprinted into his brain.


	7. Chapter 7

_Again, thanks for your interest. To clear up some confusion Reavers do have fire power, they just don't aim that well and for the sake of the story, and they put in a lucky shot. The Romulan's were actually cloaked so they didn't have their shields up (probably should have mentioned that!! sorry), the Reavers were able to detect them as they have a different tracking system to that of the Star Trek universe. The Reaver ship is a mammoth I suppose but the Captain of the Romulan ship doesn't know what Reaver's are so he doesn't know their threat. As for the round of torpedoes, the Reaver's ship went down after a few hits and made an emergency dock with the Romulan's. Thanks for the reviews, the questions are good, makes me think a bit more about the dynamics. All thoughts are welcome._

Images shifted under her eyes as she slept a forced sleep. She hated being sedated. When she dreamt, she couldn't wake up, and when she couldn't wake up, her nightmares dragged on throughout the night. She could feel the ship on the outer thoughts of her mind. Plagued with death and horror everyone thought they left behind, but they had been followed through the wormhole. No one should suffer the fait that had been lying in wait for them, but she could not undo the past. She tried to move her arms, her legs, her shoulders, anything, but she was frozen. Someone had to be warned, someone had to be told, before it was too late, and the Enterprise suffered an even worse fate then the Romulan's. But she was trapped. Trapped in her nightmare. She knew they would see them soon though, but was it soon enough?

"Sir, I am picking up some unusual readings on the edge of our sensors." Data reported to the Captain. "I believe it is a debris field, though what it is debris of, I do not know." His fingers moved swiftly, never faltering from the key pad. An image of the wreckage was brought onto the main screen as all squinted and tried to identify what ship it could possibly have been.

"I don't recognize that ship. Do you Data?" Picard asked, still squinting at the view screen.

"No Sir, I do not. I can not find any ship's hull configuration that fits this one's specific design." Data scanned through screeds of information, finding nothing of use.

"Perhaps…." Riker said, lost in a train of his own thought.

"Yes, number one?" Picard inquired.

"Could it have come threw the same way as the Serenity crew did?" Riker concluded.

"That may be a plausible explanation Sir. They may be able to identify it." Data offered.

"All right then, have them report to the conference room." Picard said, already walking there himself. "Number one, you have the bridge." He called before the doors closed. Riker took the Captain's seat, sitting down comfortably, his eyes back to the mess on screen that had once been a space worthy ship. _Who could have done this? _He asked himself.

In the conference room, the Serenity crew took seats around the large table that was usually occupied by the senior officers for the Enterprise crew, but was given the task today to present the ghastly image Picard had seen moments before on the bridge. When all charter had died down (well as died down as he thought he could ever get it from this lot), he flicked the image onto the screen on the side of the wall behind him.

"A few minutes ago, our ships sensors picked up this wreckage, just off Romulan territory. We have been unable to identify what species it belongs to. Perhaps you may know as it may have followed you through the wormhole you came through." Picard explained.

Mal stood from his seat, peering closer to the image to make out the details better. Letting out a string of words Picard was unable to hear but knew was not polite, he backed away and turned to his crew, his face telling them what they wanted to know.

"It can't be, not out here." Wash was shaking his head.

"I'd know that design anywhere. There's no mistaking." Mal responded, looking them in the eyes to show them he wasn't lying.

"But it's destroyed right? Don't that mean theys gone?" Jayne waved his hand at the image.

"True, but we don't know if that's the only one floating round out there." Mal pointed out into the stars. "For all we know there could be several more, but that don't mean there is, so don't you go worrying bout it till be know for sure."

Captain Picard had been watching the talk their Captain had given them and could see how protective he felt over them. This surprised him. Most of the other times Picard had seen the crew interacting with each other, they were mostly arguing or throwing insults that they seemed to take lightly. Now though, they were somber, thoughts of worry and fear passing on their faces.

"You know who this ship belonged to?" It was more a statement but Picard asked it as a question. He was curious as to who it was they were so afraid of.

"More what. They're Reavers. They'd soon as dance and sing a merry tune then talk civilized with anyone. Soon as you see one, you blow em right outta the sky." Mal answered, his tone the most serious Picard had heard. Picard stood from the front chair, tapping his comm. badge.

"Picard to Riker."

"Riker here." The commander responded immediately.

"I want you to take in as much of the debris as possible. I want a full analysis as soon as possible." Picard ordered, hitting his comm. again to end the communication.

"What are Reavers doing here?" Simon inquired, his face stretched with concern and worry. He had remained in sickbay, never leaving River's side, making sure he knew what Doctor Crusher was giving her. Mal, Simon and Zoë were scrunched into a corner, trying their best to have a private conversation, trying to figure out what to do should they come into contact with any more Reavers. Mal had tried to reason with Captain Picard that these things were not going to welcome anyone to a party, that they were to be destroyed as soon as they came across one or they themselves would be destroyed, but Picard simply stated he needed more information to make any more judgments about them. Deeply, Mal somehow understood what Picard meant. It was difficult to know anything but what people told you. For all Picard knew, they were simply trying to make their way home like Mal and his crew and Mal had a grudge on them, hoping Picard would listen and destroy them without first thought. But that deep understanding had been roughly pushed aside by his anger that Reavers where, simply put, evil. No good would ever come crossing their path.

"You said River was muttering 'There here' before you put her to sleep. You think this is what she could have been talking about?" Mal looked at both Simon and then Zoë for ideas.

"I don't know. For all we know, she was talking about…." Simon shrugged his shoulders, trying to come up with something ridicules that would be able to wind River up that far.

"Yeah, I know." Mal butt in. "But what if she was talking bout Reavers? Maybe she knows something that could help us get the hell otta here before this Captain goes and gets everyone killed, including us."

Zoë raised her eyebrows and looked at Simon. "He has got a point. She may know something."

"And she may know nothing." Simon sighed deeply. He hated it when Mal came to him, asking for River to do what seemed the impossible. "But somehow, I don't think she'd mind being woken up for anything. She doesn't like being put to sleep." He mumbled the last few sentences. So it had been agreed, all they had to do was distract the pesky Doctor, wake River, and hope to hell she knew something.


	8. Chapter 8

Beverly Crusher was staring at the same padd she had been staring at for 20 minutes now as she moved around the biobed River currently occupied. It was incredible at the amount of brain activity River was submitting while she slept, more so then anyone she had ever seen awake. Where parts of her brain had been removed or deactivated, over areas and more were used to help cope with the loss. Whoever had managed to do this, she couldn't help but be in aware of, had their talents been put to better use, they could really have been somebody (if they weren't already and were simply doing this in their free time).

"Excuse me Doctor, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Simon appeared beside her, a padd in his hand.

"Oh, of course not," she placed her own padd down and inquired "what can I help you with?"

"It's just……" He trailed off, looking somewhat uncomfortable. "I feel like a nescience always here, in the way. I'm a trained Doctor and I was wondering if maybe you needed an extra hand." He finished, smiling a sweet smile. For a moment, Beverly didn't know what to say. She was flattered somewhat by his offer of help, as she smiled back and nodded.

"It's just, I don't quite understand how to use the computer, if its OK, could you show me some simple input instructions?" His voice sounding truly interested.

"I don't see why that wouldn't be a problem." She led him into the adjoining room just as Mal and Zoë edged around the corner to River's biobed. Mal fiddled with the needle Simon had given him (they were using one from Serenities infirmary as they weren't aloud to access one from Enterprise due to procedure), and injected its contents into River's arm. Waiting a few minutes for the drug to take effect they listened intently, trying to make out the conversation going on in the other room, but it was too quiet. Simon was doing a good job. River's eyes snapped open just as Mal placed a hand on her shoulder to shake her awake. He jumped back in surprise but quickly regained his composure as she looked around Sickbay, seemingly unsurprised at their presence.

Her face quickly changed to one of pain and confusion as her hands gripped the side of the bed. Mal placed his hand over her mouth to stop her from crying aloud and giving them away, as he helped her down.

"Shh. Don't go screaming that high pitched scream of yours before we can get the hell outta here." Mal told her, only after she nodded in understanding did he move his hand away. They made their way out of Sickbay, making as little noise as possible. As they rounded another corner, heading towards the docking port where Serenity sat, River began pulling back.

"What the hell is it now?" Mal asked, annoyed at her protests.

"This way." She insisted, tugging at Mal, leading him to engineering.

"Why the hell do we want to go that way?" Mal protested as River tugged him along. As she reached her destination, Mal's eyes sweeping the corridors, checking that no one saw them, they entered the engine room, that at this time, was almost empty (for those that were there, they were on the far side of the room, out of sight). River made her way to a console and began typing in commands as fast as he had seen Data.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mal asked leaning over her, trying to make sense of the station they were at.

"They won't listen. They don't understand." Was the brief answer she gave as she continued on.

"Sir," Zoë said from the door way. "Someone's coming." She whispered. Mal turned back to River and, making gestures he hoped she would understand as 'hurry up', grabbed her hand and pulled her away. She let her hands fall from gracefully from the console, as she finished what she was doing and all three Serenity members snuck form the soon to be filled room.

When Doctor Crusher found River missing from her bed, she sent for security and moments later, Lieutenant Worf and of his selected officers were in her Sickbay, trying to understand what had happened. When they could not find the 17 year old girl after combing the most likely places, a ship wide announcement was sent out. Mal had approached Captain Picard, explaining that she had awoken, and in fright, had made her way back to Serenity where she was currently at that moment and where she was ordered to stay by himself so as not to cause further trouble. Picard had augured of course. Doctor Crusher still needed to run all kinds of tests, she had assaulted an officer which warranted her with time in the brig though Mal had pointed out that they were dealing with her punishment in their own way and that Simon was more then capable to take care of her as he had been doing since they had been aboard Serenity. Captain Picard could not argue this point. It was also at this point that an intruder alert screeched through Enterprise alerting everyone to an unidentified ship that had just been located on long range sensors. The Serenity crew had decided to stay on their own ship while Enterprise handled this situation.

"Sir, the ship has just been identified as a Romulan cruiser, heading in this direction at warp five." Data relayed the information from his console.

"On screen." Picard ordered and the Romulan ship T'mor appeared before their eyes. It was more then a little scratched. By the looks of its side, the Romulan ship had been docked with another ship, and this had not gone well. It appeared to have completely ripped another ship its dock, most probably the one they had found floating in pieces not too far away.

"No response to our hails Captain." Worf reported as their communications went unnoticed.

"Sir, they have increased their speed, they are now heading towards us at warp 7 and should reach us in 11 minutes." Data said.

"Raise shields." Was all Picard said as he thought, his hand placed under his chin."Any ideas number one?" He finally asked Riker.

"None Sir." He shook his head, staring back at the screen as the minutes ticked by without any answer to their building questions.

By the time the ship reached them, they had tried hailing them a total of nine times, but they remained unanswered. When it was within firing range, the T'mor armed its weapons and let a volley hit Enterprise as the crew held on tightly to their stations.

"Fire phasers!" Picard almost shouted as Worf quickly keyed in the commands. Letting a volley of their own weapons loose. This did not seem to stun their attackers as they hit back with as much force as they could.

"Sir, they are preparing to dock!" Worf's surprise could be heard in his voice as the T'mor turned to its side (the side with the docking port still whole). As two more blows racked the Enterprise there was a flicker of light that could have been glanced as Enterprise's defences where taken down. "Shields are down!" He cried adding, "They're docked!"

"What the hell is going on up there?" Wash asked swiverling around on his chair, to see if he could get a better look out the window. Zoë and Mal, who were with him in the bridge also leaned forward as there eyes made contact with a large, well constructed looking curser. "Think the Captain has visitors?" Wash asked.

"If he had visitors, wouldn't they use that transporter thing to zap them over to the ship instead of docking? That would be quicker right?" Mal thought.

"I don't think their friendly visitors sir." Zoë shook her head. "I think all that jolting before was weapons fire."

"How can that be? Weapons fire like that and we'dve been blow outta the sky." Mal scoffed.

"They don't look friendly." Wash raised his eyebrows.

"They're not who they think they are." Came the soft, quiet vice of River Tam form behind them. Mal visibly jumped in surprise that he hadn't heard her make a sound.

"Don't jump up on me like that." He said.

"Who's not who they think they are?" Zoë asked River.

"They'll come and kill them, just like they did the others." River seemed to be becoming more upset, as she raised her hands to her head as if she could block out the voices and thoughts of horror that was filling her mind.

"Who homey?" Zoë tried in a soothing voice, trying to understand the little girls ranting.

"Reavers." Was the answer she gave as their faces turned the colour of ash. "There here."


	9. Chapter 9

When River had announced the origin of their visitors, they had thought it impossible.

"But we saw their ship, destroyed." Wash tried.

"We did, but they could have easily hitched a ride." Mal shot down the idea that this was simply a misunderstanding on the Enterprises side.

"If Reavers are here, then what the hell are _we_ still doing here?" Jayne asked, his hands loaded with different types of firearms and hand weapons.

Wash shook his head up and down frantically. "I could release the docking clamps in two minutes and have us in the opposite direction in faster."

"Who's to say that big ship they've managed to get their hands on won't come after _us _when we try to run? We have a better chance staying alive here. Hopefully, they'll have their fill of this crew, and won't bother with us." He shrugged.

"Mal!!" Inara shouted in disgust at the idea. "We should be helping these people, or have you forgotten how they saved all our lives?" She turned to the crew each in turn, as they diverted there eyes. Sighing deeply, Mal pulled out a few guns from the hidden hatch in the wall.

"Fine, whoever wants to get themselves most probably killed, grab something and follow me." Mal didn't turn back around to see who was following him as he exited Serenity. Even with the additional fire power, they were still no match, and the Serenity crew were running out of ammo, fast.

As the Security officers made their way swiftly to the docking ports where the Romulan ship had forcefully docked, they stationed themselves around the corner, pointing their phasers in their direction, ready for the attack they knew was coming. As the doors flew open, what emerged from the ship stunned them.They barged at them, blood dripping from their faces, though they didn't seem to care or notice. As the Enterprise officers fired their weapons, the Reavers dropped one by one, yet more seemed to come from nowhere, until someone finally wasn't quick enough. Ensign Malow turned his phaser to the next one, only to have another jump him from the side and wrench his arm. He gave an ear splitting scream as it was pulled from its socked and he lay helplessly on the ground as they dived at him. He gave an ear splitting scream as it was pulled from its socked and he lay helplessly on the ground as they dived at him. The other officers stared in horror, unable to move to help him due to the shock of watching them dive their teeth into their friend. They were fighting a loosing battle, as they stepped further back down the corridor. Just when they thought they would join their mutilated friend, an ear shattering 'BOOM' racked through the passageway. The doors to the far end turbolift had opened emitting a large black gun pointed in their direction, but not at them. Jayne stepped forth, brandishing the weapon, Mal followed behind him, his own small pistol raised and yet he looked just as menacing. Behind him stood Shepherd Book, their Doctor, Simon along with his sister and Wash, his hand holding Zoë's tightly.

"Come now Jayne, I hope you don't plan to have all the fun now." Mal jibed as he took aim at a particularly grotesquely scarred Reaver, fired and tried his best to hind his smirk as blood sprayed over one of the security officers.

"I thought we couldn't fire guns on Enterprise." Wash pointed out as they reached the Enterprise officers and continued firing.

"We couldn't, till River tampered with a few of their controls." Mal shrugged.

"How did she manage to do that?" Wash asked, but everyone was too busy concentrating at that moment to answer. Even with the additional fire power, they were still no match, and the Serenity crew were running out of ammo, fast.

"Fall back, we can't take 'em all." Mal shouted as they followed him, loading together in the turbolift. That was, all but River.

"_Mei Mei?_" Simon said just loud enough for her to hear. She looked at him, the answer to his question in her eyes. She wasn't coming with them. Shaking her head, she pulled away from him before he could get a good grip to drag her away and dived into the crowd of oncoming Reavers. Simon was pulled from behind by Mal who whispered, with the air of no resistance, "She knows what she's doing." As the doors closed and she was out of sight killing them faster then they could have on their own. She knew what she was doing, she had seen it before and she was determined not to let Enterprise come to its end.

The klaxon alarms were sounding, as red flashed over the bridge. Captain Picard hated the noise and didn't stand for the throbbing of the light. It did more then annoy him. "How many?" He asked Data, wanting to know how many of these 'Reavers' had managed to board the ship.

"Sir, besides our own crew compliment, and that of the Serenities, I am reading 56 additional humans."

"Humans?" Riker's eyes widened. He had been under the impression, from the descriptions of the Serenity crew that they were more then monsters. What he didn't understand was why they were attacking Enterprise.

"Yes Sir." Data answered, even when he didn't need to. "They have breached deck nine."

"Seal off the area, evacuate all personnel on that level." Picard ordered, as Data set to work. It was then that Data registered the decreasing numbers of boarders. 56, 49, 42, 37, they were dropping rapidly. "Sir, the boarding party numbers are dropping."

"What do you mean, dropping?" Picard inquired.

"They are dying sir." Data turned to look at him, before turning back.

"Why are they dying?" Picard whispered, looking as confused as Riker.

"I do not know." Data replied.

They exited the turbolift, Mal and his company minus one along with the security officers. Simon was more then angry that Mal had left out the peek of his plan (leaving River to the slaughter).

"You should have told me." He pulled Mal around so they were looking each other in the eyes.

"And what would you have done?" He shouted. "It was your sister's plan. I think she's old enough to make decisions on her own now." Mal pushed him off and started up the corridor that led them to Serenity. "She can take care of herself."

"What was wrong with them?" One of the security officers finally spoke, his voice shaking.

"Those were Reavers. The things our Captain was trying to warn your Captain about." Zoë answered for him.

"But he wouldn't listen, so this is where it got him." Mal shouted over his shoulder as he continued walking.

"I took scans." Another officer said. "They read as human." There was a long silence.

"They ain't been human for a long time, and they never will." Jayne answered solemnly.

"What do you mean?" The Enterprise officer asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"They were human once, just like you and me, but they aren't anymore." Zoë replied, reloading her gun, before following in the Captain's footsteps. Soon, all of Serenity's members had left the corridor for the comfort of their own ship, yet the security officers stayed silent and unmoving, standing in shock for what lay beyond them.It was only when Lieutenant Worf came running around the corner with a large number of other security officers that their resolve was broken.

"What happened?" Worf demanded, looking at each of them in turn.

"Those people that boarded the ship, they were human, but they were mad." One of them managed to get out.

"They were human?" Worf repeated, not believing him, but they nodded. Worf made to enter the turbolift, but before he could order the computer to send it down to him, the doors opened and out stepped River, her clothes covered in blood, cuts and bruises littered her body and she trembled somewhat as she continued to hold in her right hand, tightly, a long, silver sword, dripping crimson blood steadily to the floor and in her left hand, a small sliver axe, it's handle fashioned in some kind of leather. Such weapons where unseen and unused and so to see them being held by this fragile, thin, small girl was almost comical, if it weren't for all the blood. As she stepped from the lift, Worf tensed and arched his hand to his phaser at his side, but he needn't have worried as River dropped the weapons and they fell with a clatter to the ground. She continued walking, never stopping to look back but headed in the direction she knew everyone else was. But she knew they wouldn't be there for long.


	10. Chapter 10

"Sir, I have your report on our intruders." Worf stepped through the doors and into the Captain's ready room, a padd in his hand. "Doctor Crusher has had time to run full detailed analysis on a few of the bodies and she would like to talk to you in private. Data is downloading the footage from the corridors and dock that where infiltrated." He reported handing Picard the data padd.

"Thank you Mr. Worf." Picard acknowledged as a signal to leave but Worf remained standing where he was.

"Is there something else I can help you with?" He asked finally.

"It's……." Worf trailed off, still trying to think of a suitable way to say what was on his mind. He hadn't had time to tell the Captain, or anyone else for that matter about River. He was still trying to get it through his mind.

"Yes?" Picard started to become impatient.

"The girl, from Serenity…….." He trailed off again, knowing he would be reprimand for not telling him sooner.

"Yes?" Picard folded his arms around himself, letting Worf know he had reached his waiting point.

"She emerged from the turbolift, minutes before anyone could get to the corridor. They were all dead sir." The last part was almost whispered.

"Are you trying to tell me, River murdered them?" Picard couldn't believe him. What he was saying didn't make sense. Not even Data could kill off that many people at once.

"I do not know sir. Just what I saw." He answered before turning around and exiting the ready room. Picard stood in thought before sitting himself down on his chair. Quickly scanning over the padd Worf had given him, his eyes opened wide at the information. All of the boarding party had been killed in one way or another, and all of the occupants of the ship had tried to board, so he would get no explanation from their side which troubled him. This was entirely a one sided situation in which the Serenity crew and a few of his own security officers had killed 56 people.

"Data to Captian Picard." Data's voice sounded over the comm. System.

"Go ahead Data." He replied curtly.

"I had finished downloading the data from the docking port sir. Would you like me to transfer it to the conference room?" He offered, knowing the Captain and the rest of the senior staff wished to view it.

"Yes and when you are finished, summon all senior officers there." He closed the comm. Link and headed in the direction he was hoping would provide all information that was currently missing. Information that would help them sort out what the hell had happened on that deck.

They were all sitting around the large conference room, Picard at the top chair, Riker to his left, Data to his right and so forth, all waiting to see the recording of what had happened. Data pressed a few controls and the computer beeped in acknowledgment at his request. The view screen flickered and there were the images of some very alive Reavers. They ran up the corridor to where the security officer Ensign Malow was trying his best to keep them at bay, but to no success. One of them managed to get behind him, yanking his arm where a loud 'pop' could be heard, telling Doctor Crusher that his arm had just been dislocated. A few more Reavers then jumped him and his couldn't be seen as he screamed for his life. Deanna felt like turning away, but she knew she needed to watch, she would need to talk to the other security officers when they had fully recovered in Sickbay.

Next came the exposition that appeared to originate from the turbolift. Out stepped most of the Serenity crew, those who were not present were kaylee and Inara. Jayne was at the front, his arms tightly around some kind of grenade launcher. As everyone took up positions, they began their assault with mostly hand guns. It was clear to them that they were vastly outnumbered as they began to retreat, Enterprises officers following suit. As they reached the turbolift they had entered from, all but one clambered aboard. That who was left was the girl, River. Her head tilted to the right as the Reavers rushed in her direction and as if in fast forward, she snatched weapons from their waists, and began chopping through them at a phenomenal rate, their bodies not even hitting the ground before another one joined them. When she was done, their bodies littered the floor as they had found them, and River, besides several cuts and bruises she had sustained, turned calmly around and stepped into the turbolift that would take her to where Worf would meet her.

"Fascinating." Data remarked softly, his eyes still on the screen even though it had stopped.

"My God." Riker whispered. "How the hell did she do that?"

Picard shook his head, even though he had just watched it he was still finding it hard to believe.

"I've never seen anyone move like that." Crusher said. "They barely even touched her."

"It was almost like she knew what they were going to do, and anticipated." Riker thought aloud.

"Where is the girl now?" Picard asked Worf.

"She and the rest of them are on Serenity." He answered.

"Then they knew she could do this?" He motioned to the screen.

"It would seem likely." Deanna answered, adding "There is so much we don't know about them or where they came from, as for my readings of her……" She paused before divulging what she had told Crusher. "They were confusing and chaotic at best."

"This makes sense from the brain scan. Captain, I've been thinking." She rotated her chair towards him, "Whoever did this to her, perhaps this was what they intended to use her for. There are assassins on many different worlds, as they've told us, they are the only intelligent beings they've found in their universe, my guess is that they use people who don't seem that much of a threat at all." She shrugged her shoulders.

"How were they able to fire their weapons inside the ship?" Picard asked thinking back to the slaughter.

At this question, Geordie leaned forward, a data padd in his hands. "I think I may be able to answer that one sir. After carefully scanning the computers systems, I noticed that someone had managed to deactivate that safety protocol. How they did it I'm, still trying to figure out. To deactivate something like this, you need level one clearance which only a handful of officers have. I ran some background tests and they were all accounted for, none of them were anywhere near the console that was tampered with when it happened. And second of all, if someone did manage to falsify the computers records, they would need more then one person as it takes two people to deactivate it."

It took a few minutes for everything to sink in before Picard asked, "What about the Serentiy crew? Was there anyone in engineering at that time?"

Geordie thought for a moment. "I don't know sir, I didn't think of that. Their technology is quite limited; they don't even know how to use the replicates properly. For one of them to be able to do this?" He thought, placing a hand on his chin.

"What about River?" Crusher shrugged.

"What about her?" Riker asked, not understanding what she was getting at.

"If she's capable to take down 50 of those things," she pointed to the screen, "Then who says she isn't capable of tampering with our computer controls?"

"I don't know." Geordie sounded sceptical. "Data's probably the only one capable of doing something like this." He looked at his friend who raised his eyebrow, in the way that meant he had acknowledged Geordie's comment.

"Why don't we just ask them?" Deanna piped up, the thought coming to her.

"Why didn't we think of that before?" Crusher raised her hands and smiled in amusement that it had taken this long to think of something so simple.

"Alright then Consular, you, Riker and Data will have a chat to our friends. Lets see if we can't figure this out before they decide to high tail it and leave." Everyone rose form their chairs and began filing out of the room.

"'High tail it' sir?" Data asked Picard who had remained seated in thought. He smiled for the first time that day.

"Leave Mr Data, leave."

"Yes sir." He lowered his head in the way that meant dismissal and headed for the door.

"No, I meant High tail means to leave, not……" He sighed, "Never mind." Shaking his head, he left for the bridge.


	11. Chapter 11

_Thanks for the reviews!! Just so you know, I am almost finished this story. Also that I understand that everything in this story is no exactly like that of both the Star Trek and Firefly universe, but I try to make it as close as possible and if there are any discrepancies, I will try my best to make it understandable with what is going on and how something's were able to happen. Such as the overcome of the Reavers ship with the Romulans ship. (For the sake of the story, they were able to overtake them). Thank you._

Mal knew they would come. They always had more questions to ask, to try and understand their situation, where they came from, why they did what they did. He didn't think they understood how difficult life was for them. While Enterprise and their worlds revolved around peace and equal life for everyone, their system worked mush differently. Riker, Data and Deanna had asked to speak to them about the incident with the Reavers, but mostly, he knew, they wanted to talk about River. It was written on their faces. No doubt, they had cameras or what not stationed everywhere on the ship, and had no doubt watched River in action, something he had only seen marginally.

"You know why we are here." Deanna had started out.

"Fairly obvious innit?" He responded.

"You could say it's unusual for someone to kill off 47 people." Crusher nodded, knowing that exactly 47 of the creatures had been personally killed by River.

"Well she's an unusual girl." Mal smirked.

"We have records that indicate that you, Zoë and River were in engineering when our computer controls for important safety protocols were deactivated." Riker changed the subject.

Mal cocked his head to the right. "Don't really remember where I was all day yesterday. Kinda hard to keep up with all that happens round here."

"You're lying." Deanna stated simply, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Don't stop the fact that if that protocol weren't turned off, no doubt your officers would have died and me and mine would have been useless." He shot at her.

"You are lying." She said again. "One of you tampered with the controls."

"She's right." Riker supported, turning to Mal. "You see, Deanna's empathic, she can tell whenever someone's lying or keeping something from us. We don't mean you any trouble, we just want to know what's going on."

"Nothing's 'going on' that you don't already know." Mal shouted, waving his hands in the air.

"There's no need to shout." Riker raised his voice to let him know he was serious. Mal seemed not to hear Riker and instead turned to Deanna.

"I'd rather be back in my world, Reavers an all, least I don't prance round in those one pieces you got there. And then maybe we wouldn't have to save your asses to save our own." Mal retorted, his words striking a cord in Riker.

"Saved us? As I seem to remember it, we saved you!" His anger seemed to raise more in the company of this man.

"So I guess now we're even. If little River hadn't taken out those Reavers, then you and your ship would just be another wreck, or more likely, they would've taken it as their own." Mal defended himself.

"You seem so threatened by them, and yet River made such quick work of them. It was extraordinary, the way she moved. It was almost as if she knew exactly what they were about to do." Deanna changed the subject back to River, wanting answers and to stop the shouting match from escalating into something more.

"You want to know bout River? Best person to talk to is her brother. Course he don't know as much as you seem to have figured out on your own." Mal folded his arms, knowing that if Deanna was 'reading' him, she would know he was telling them the truth.

Riker shot Deanna a quick look to which she nodded slightly.

"The repairs are done. Me and mine have come to the decision that, as much as we love your company," the sarcasm in his voice was evident; "we need to get on our way."

Riker sighed, he knew the conversation would end this was, and he couldn't blame them. Nodding, his anger depleted, "Mr. Data has been able to find a way that should be able to get you back to your own dimension. He'll load the calculations into your computer, and by sending out several repulser-beams at the exact place in which you entered our space, it should create a rift big enough for your ship to get through, before closing." He explained the plan. Mal nodded his thanks as the two rose from their seats and headed to the Captain to tell him the news. As the doors closed behind them Riker turned to Deanna; "I guess we may never know what really happened with those Reavers, but off the record," his stride stopped; "Mal's just protecting his crew, and I understand that."

Deanna nodded in agreement. "River really is a mystery. To them and to us."

Simon was taking his last look around one of the most well equipped infirmaries he had ever seen (the Enterprise Sickbay) before they undocked and attempted to make their way back to their own universe. It saddened him that they would be leaving this seemingly perfect world. He knew that if he chose to stay, he and River might actually have a good life, there would be no alliance, no Reavers, but he also knew that their was more then overpowering danger as well. He had overheard conversations about The Borg. A cybernetic race more destructive and horrible then Reavers. Of course, that's just what he'd heard. But the main reason he was going, was that he had made a home on Serenity, and River was at peace there, it seemed. Doctor Crusher had asked to meet with him before he and everyone else left, she had said she had something to discuss with him. Making his way into her office, she looked up at him as they exchanged small smiles.

"I can't stay long; we're getting ready to go." Simon said. Beverly nodded before handing him a padd and bending under her table to retrieve something. Pulling out a small case she laid it on the table and opened it before him.

"I know it's not much, but this might be able to help your sister. I know there's nothing I can do to reverse the damage done to her, and quite frankly, I'm surprised she's even lucid enough to have half a conversation. But I saw hat she did to protect this crew, and maybe this will help a little." Inside the silver case sat several vials of unknown liquid and a few of their hyposprays.

"You don't need to give me this." Simon was shocked to say the least as he ran his hands over the contents.

"I want to give you this. No one at her age should ever have to go through what she's gone through. If I can to anything to help, I will." Crusher smiled sympathetically as Simon closed the case.

"Thank you, for everything. I really appreciate this."

"Anytime." Beverly replied as Simon headed out the door for the last time. "Anytime." She whispered, even though he had already left.

"Everyone got everything?" Mal shouted down the Serenity corridor as they were ready to undock with Enterprise.

"Ready to take flight, or more, ready to be jettisoned into space, care of the really big powerful ship that would more then probably be better for us to stay then on this hunk of junk they can't believe is our ship ." Wash was saying as Mal shook his head, walking down to engineering.

"Everything ready?" He called to Kaylee.

"Everything's shinny Captain." She replied, taking her eyes briefly off her engine to acknowledge him, then turning back.

As Mal made his way back to the bridge, he was joined by Inara and Shepherd.

"Now theirs a crew one could say they were proud to be apart of." Shepherd sighed.

"Not my boat to float." Mal grinned slightly. "Captain's a bit of a prick, I'd hate taking orders from him."

"You hate taking orders from anyone." Inara put in.

"Yeah well……."

"I will be glad when we're back home." Inara said.

Mal stopped walking and turned in surprise to her. "And here I thought you'd love a place like that." He continued his stride. "Perfect ship, don't have to pay for anything."

"I think it was the fact that no one had the use for a companion, actually." Shepherd said quietly. Inara glared sharply at him, he had struck a nerve.

"Oh, I see. Well then, that's makes perfect sense. Leave one ship who constantly mocks your life to visit another ship who's disgusted by what you do before coming back to the ship you hoped to leave." Mal smiled a teasing smile as he turned to Wash. "Well what are we waiting for. Get us the hell off this ship."


	12. Chapter 12

_This is the last chapter!! Sorry, I know it's short. I hoped you like this story as much as I liked writing it and getting all of your comments.__ I'll start on another sometime soon, when I've thought up another plot, but that might not be for a few weeks as I'm just about to go on holiday!! Not sure what direction I'll go. Thanks again._

River dug her finger tips into the side of her bed. They were undocking; ready to leave the Enterprise and the quiet world they had been thrown into. She could feel Simon's thoughts on the situation. For a small while, he had thought about staying, though River knew it was more trouble then it was worth, these people, however good their intentions, didn't understand. They lived in a world they dedicated to filling with peace, though no place, however beautiful, could ever be without conflict, and the conflict they had at that moment was more dangerous then any of the Serenity crew realised. Communication seemed to be lost on both sides.

"Hey _mei mei._" Simon ducked his head around the corner. "Don't worry, we'll be home soon. Back to the good old Reaver infested, alliance crawling, Mal hunting space." He sighed while River smiled at his choice of words.

"Better hold onto something, won't be an easy trip." River said absently, her eyes looking past Simon, out the door.

"What do you mean?" Simon inquired. They seemed to have picked up that when she said something, it was for the best to listen. If you missed something, it wasn't an easy ride.

"Waiting for us." Was all she said, her smile dropping as her eyes moved to the small table beside her.

"All right." Wash exclaimed. "Ready to go, engines are purring."

"That's great, just make sure you do what that robot told you to do. Don't want my atoms starched to little peaces. Like to come out the other side whole." Mal retorted, pointing to the screen Wash was surposed to be reading.

"Atoms starched to little peaces?" Wash turned to Mal alarmed. "Nobody told me that was a risk. Why didn't anyone tell me that was a risk?"

"It's best you don't know sweetie." Zoë replied in a soothing voice.

"Yeah, you think that's a risk, you get paranoid, and then, what do you know, we're back home, just not all together." Mal injected, punching in keys.

Back on the Enterprise, Data sat stiffly at his console, computing all elements into the computer. Checking to see weather Serenity had aliened their computers systems, he prepared the computer to fire several burst of repulser-beams in grid 7762 beta.

"Sir, the pulses will be ready to fire in two point twenty seven seconds." Data said, his eyes not rising from the console.

"Fire when ready." Picard ordered. "Lets hope to hell they get back in one piece."

There was a silence that seemed to encompass the ship as the seconds passed by. When the time struck, Data fired and as they watched the blue pulses enter into the blackness, they seemed to strike something tangible. The stars seemed to waver and shudder as a ripple formed before them. They watched, eyes wide as that same type wormhole emerged before them. The same wormhole that had spat their uncooperative guests upon their feet and their enemies as well.

"Sir, they are entering the gravity zone." Data informed them. "The wormhole is pulling them in."

Picard's gaze never left the view screen as Serenity was pulled into the spiralling mass of matter. Again, the space around them seemed to shudder, then they were gone.

"I believe they made it through sir." Data broke the silence.

Picard let out the breath he didn't realise he had been holding. "Very well. Continue with your scans of this system. I want to know if there are any more of these special rifts that could become a problem." He ordered, sitting down in his command chair.

"What do you think their worlds like?" Riker asked absently.

"From what they described, there sound like some really beautiful places, though those seem to be in short supply. But when they do find them, it makes it all the more sweeter." Deanna answered.

"I don't know. I think they have a pretty hard life." Riker turned to her. "What about the girl?"

"It won't be easy for her. It never will. But I do get one feeling, the feeling that she's with people she's not afraid to be with. That's something she hasn't truly felt in awhile." Deanna looked back to the view screen, her thoughts back with the company that had just departed.

The swirling light was making Mal nauseas as he closed his eyes to block it out. No such luck, he could still seem to see it behind his eye lids. His eyes jolted opened as the ship came to a sudden holt and jolted forward. He heard Wash let out a breath as he checked the systems.

"Looks like we made it, and all together now." The pitch of his voice rose indicating a twinge of sarcasm and annoyance. Obviously he still wasn't happy about not being told about the risk, before they set out.

"See that wasn't so bad." Zoë rubbed his arm, trying to get him to ease of a little bit.

"Wasn't bad!? Are you kidding. I rocked." As the smile enveloped his face Zoë leaned over to give him a little peck on the check. Mal pretended not to notice anything while rolling his eyes.

At that moment one of the left panels began to beep, breaking the moment. Wash leaned over to check the systems.

"Uhh, I think we have visitors." Piloting the ship so that it rotated to the source of the trouble, their view was filled with that of an alliance cruiser, its hull gleaming a horrible white/pale blue.

"Don't he look familiar." Mal huffed. Yep, they were home.

The End


End file.
